2. New & Improved and The Next Big Thing: Sustaining and Disruptive Innovation

When people think of innovation, they tend to envision life-saving medical devices or advanced solar-powered energy panels. Laundry detergent, however, isn’t something that typically leaps to mind.

But it does to the men and women of Procter & Gamble (P&G). Their new liquid laundry detergents may never win FDA approval or push the envelope of photovoltaic materials, but they are transforming the way Americans wash their clothes and could someday do the same for consumers in other countries if P&G has its way. That’s a big deal considering that the worldwide market for textile cleaning products is expected to grow to $43 billion by 2013, according to Datamonitor.^[1] P&G already controls 26.1 percent of the market—the largest share of any single manufacturer—and is now poised to grab even more thanks to its new, disruptive detergent products.